Fertilizer-distributer.



C. C. BUTLER.

FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTER.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 16,1909.

955,1 33 Patented Apr. 19,1910.

oninn STATS PATENT OFFICE.

CLINTON C. BUTLER, OF WATEBLOO, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM GALLOWAYCOMPANY, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

FERTILIZER-DISTRIBUTER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GLINTION C. BUTLER, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and a resident of Waterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fertilizer-Distributers,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in fertilizerdistributers, and theobjects of my invention are these, first, to furnish an improved andsimplified means for adjusting the position of the driven-sprocket wheelon the distributing-drum shaft laterally, and second, to provideimproved means for shifting the driving sprocket-chain out of or intoengagement with the drivingsprocket wheel, with means for adjusting theposition of the forward end of said chain laterally, and for regulatingthe tension of the chain to take up slackness therein. These objects Ihave accomplished by the mechanism which is hereinafter fullydescribedand claimed, and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a right-side elevation of the rear part of a fertilizerdistributer, showing my improved means for driving thedistributing-drum. Fig. 2 is a detail'rear elevation of thedistributing-drum, its shaft, and the means adopted by me for adjustingthe position of the driven-sprocket wheel along said shaft. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal axial central section of that end of the distributing-drumshaft which receives the hollow sleeve on which the adjustabledriven-sprocket wheel is mounted. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of theU-shaped slide- Way and its means of lateral adjustment in itssupporting brackets.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The wagon-box 5 of the fertilizer distributer is supported oncarrying-wheels, of which but a broken rear wheel is shown, that towhich the driving-sprocket wheel or rim 6 is connected by means ofclamps 28. The wheel 29 when rotating under draft causes its connectedsprocket-rim 6 to also rotate, the latter driving the sprocket-chain 7when the latter is lowered into engagement with it by means to behereinafter described.

The receptacle 5 has at one end a distrib- Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed July 16, 1909.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

Serial No. 508,058.

uting-drum 1 which is mounted upon a rotary shaft 3, the lattersupported by bearings projected from said receptacle. The projectingright-hand end of said shaft is longitudinally grooved at 2. A hollowsleeve 31 is slidably fitted upon said shaft and has a projectingannular fillet at its outer end. Said sleeve is also perforated at 35 toreceive the set-screw 34, the latter also passing through a registeringperforation in a collar 33, the latter mounted upon the inner end of thesleeve, to enter and engage the inner face of the groove 2 in saidshaft. A driven-sprocket wheel A is rotatably mounted upon said sleeve,and a yieldable tension-spring is coiled about said sleeve between saidsprocket-wheel and the annular fillet on the outer end of the sleeve.The left-hand end of the hub of said sprocketwheel and the right-handend of said collar have like-shaped mating ratchet dentations, inengagement with each other the result of the tension of the spring 30.The hub 32 is thereby prevented from turning back relative to the collar33, but may freely move the other way relative thereto. When thesetscrew 3A is loosened, the sleeve 31 may be adjusted in positionlongitudinally along the shaft 3, the end of the screw sliding in thegroove 2. The position of the sprocketwheel at may be thereby adjustedlaterally along said shaft, to occasion a like lateral adjustment in therear end of the sprocketchain 7, when the latter has to be shifted toaccommodate it in position to the location of a driving-sprocket wheel 6when the latter is connected to a carrying-wheel 29 which may be on adifferent Width of tread than the running-gear on which the receptaclemay have been theretofore used. The device used for this adjustment isvery simple, since but one set-screw is used, while the parts are fewerthan in other devices for this purpose.

The forward end of the sprocket-chain 7 is passed about an idler 20,which is pivoted on a pintle 21 in the rear part of a slideblock 22.This slide-block has spaced apart anti-friction rollers 17 and 18extending along the forward and rear sides of a curved slideway 23, toroll therealong when the slide-block is moved up or down by meanspresently to be described. A bracket-plate 39 is secured to the upperpart of the receptacle 5 by bolts 10 and 11. A like bracketplate 40 issecured to the lower part of said receptacle under the otherbracket-plate by means of bolts 8 and 9. Each of said bracket-plates hasa medial longitudinal slot to receive bolts 45 extending intoperforations in adjustable socket-pieces 12 or 13, the contacting facesof said bracket-plates and socket-pieces having like-shaped matingcorrugations, to permit them to be secured together in a desiredposition of longitudinal adjustment. The socket-pieces 12 and 13 haveprojecting sockets 41 and 42 respectively, adapted to receive thereinfor lateral adjustment the inturned arms of the slideway 23. Set-screws38 and 43 in the sockets ll and 42 respectively serve to securedetachably said inturned arms in the desired lateral amount ofadjustment in the sockets. By means of this lateral adjustment of theslideway 23, the idler 20 and forward part of the sprocket-chain 7 maybe laterally adjusted for the same purpose for which the adjustment isprovided for the rear end of the chain, to thereby allow of the chain tobe adjusted in parallel to the receptacle. The slideway is curved,preferably as an arc of a circle of which the axis of the shaft 3 is thecenter, to keep said chain 7 in equal taut ness notwithstanding itsposition. A link 15 has its upper end pivoted at 19 to the slideblock22, while its lower portion has a plurality of alined orifices adaptedto afford an adjustment therea-long of the pintle l6 projected from theend of the forward member of a bell-crank lever 3736, the latter mountedto rock upon the lower inturned end of the slideway 23. To the rearmember of said bell-crank lever 36 is pivoted at 30 the rear end of aconnecting-rod 2-1t, the forward end of which is pivoted at 25 to amedial orifice in the hand-lever 26, the latter pivoted at 27 to saidreceptacle 5. By means of this hand-lever the bell-crank may be rockedto cause the link 15 to raise or lower the sliding-block 22 along theslideay 23, and thus lift the idler 20 with the forward end of the chain7 into or out of engagement with the driving-sprocket wheel 6.

It will be seen, that the above described means for adjusting thesprocket-chain 7, is so devised, that the forward end of the chain maybe moved laterally in or out, and that the tension of the chain may beregulated by the shifting of the position forward, back or obliquely ofthe slideway, according to the positions in which the socket-pieces 12and 13 are respectively placed upon the corrugated bracket-plates 39 and40. The chain may thus be kept taut, notwithstanding its adjustmentlaterally or vertically.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, a receptacle, a distribut-ing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, one end of said shaft projecting from saiddrum, a perforated sleeve movable along said shaft and having an annularfillet on its outer end, a perforated collar on the inner end of saidsleeve, a set-screw adapted to work through registering perforations insaid collar and sleeve to engage said shaft, a driven sprocket-wheelrotatable upon said sleeve, yieldable resilient means between andengaging the fillet on said sleeve and the outer face of saidsprocket-wheel, the adjacent faces of said collar and of the hub of saidsprocket-wheel having like-shaped mating ratchet dentations intermeshed,a rotary driving-sprocket wheel, and a sprocket-chain operativelyengaging both said driving and driven-sprocket wheels.

2. In combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, one end of said shaft projecting from saiddrum, a perforated sleeve movable along said shaft and having an annularfillet on its outer end, a perforated collar on the inner end of saidsleeve, a set-screw adapted to work through registering perforations insaid collar and sleeve to engage said shaft, a driven-sprocket wheelrotatable upon said sleeve, yieldable resilient means between andengaging the fillet on said sleeve and the outer face of saidsprocket-wheel, the adjacent faces of said collar and of the hub of saidsprocket-wheel having like-shaped mating ratchet dentations intermeshed,a rotary driving sprocket wheel, a sprocket chain operatively engagingboth said drivingand driven-sprocket wheels, and means adapted to engageand disengage said sprocket-chain with and from said driving-sprocketwheel.

3. In combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, one end of said shaft projecting from saiddrum and longitudinally grooved, a perforated sleeve movable along saidgrooved shaft and having an annular fillet on its outer end, aperforated collar mounted upon the inner end of said sleeve, a set-screwadapted to work through registering perforations in said collar andsleeve to engage the groove in said shaft, a drivensprocket wheelrotatable upon said sleeve, yieldable resilient means between andengaging the fillet on said sleeve and the outer face of saidsprocket-wheel, the adjacent faces of said collar and of the hub of saidsprocket-wheel having like-shaped mating ratchet dentations intermeshed,a rotary driving-sprocket wheel, and a sprocket-chain operativelyengaging both said drivingand driven-sprocket wheels.

4. In combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, a driven-sprocket wheel secured to said'shaft, a driving-sprocket wheel, a curved slideway spaced apart fromsaid receptacle by inturned arms, with the hollow of its curve directedtoward the drivensprocket wheel, brackets on said receptacle to whichthe inturned arms of said slideway are slidingly connected fortransversal adjustment, a slide movable along said slideway, an idlerpivotally mounted in said slide, and a sprocket-chain about said idlerand said driven-sprocket wheel and adapted to be operatively engagedwith said drivingsprocket wheel when said slide is moved in a certaindirection.

5. I11 combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, a driven-sprocket wheel secured to saidshaft, a driving-sprocket wheel, a curved slideway spaced apart fromsaid receptacle by inturned arms, with the hollow of its curve directedtoward the drivensprocket wheel, slotted brackets on said receptacle,socket-pieces each adapted'to receive one of the inturned arms of saidslideway, means for securing said arms in the sockets of said pieces fortransversal adjustment, the inner portions of said socketpieces eachbeing perforated, the contacting faces of said socket-pieces and of saidbrackets both having like-shaped mating corrugations, detachablefastening means in the slots of said brackets and the registeringperforations of said socket-pieces adapted to secure them together forlongitudinal adjustment, a slide movable along said slideway, an idlerpivotally mounted in said slide, and a sprocket-chain about said idlerand said driven-sprocket wheel, and adapted to be operatively engagedwith said drivingsprocket wheel when said slide is moved in a certaindirection.

6. In combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, a driven-sprocket wheel secured to saidshaft, a driving-sprocket wheel, a slideway spaced apart from said receptacle by inturned arms, brackets on said receptacle to which theinturned arms of said slideway are slidingly connected for transversaladjustment, a slide having mounted therein spaced apart anti-frictionrollers located on each side of said slideway and adapted to rolltherealong, an idler pivotally mounted in said slide, and asprocket-chain about said idler and said driven-sprocket wheel andadapted to be operatively engaged with said drivingsprocket wheel whensaid slide is moved in a certain direction.

7. In combination, a receptacle, a distributing-drum at one end thereofmounted on a rotary shaft, a driven-sprocket wheel secured upon saidshaft, a driving-sprocket wheel, a slideway spaced away from saidreceptacle by inturned arms, brackets on said receptacle to which theinturned arms of said slideway are slidingly connected for transversaladjustment, a slide movable along said slideway, a bell-crank leverfulcrumed on one of the inturned arms of said slideway, a link pivotedto said slide and having an adjustable connection with one of the armsof said bell-crank lever, a handlever pivoted to said receptacle, aconnecting-rod between the other arm of said bellcrank lever and saidhand-lever, an idler pivotally mounted in said slide, and asprocket-chain about said idler and said driven-sprocket wheel andadapted to be operatively engaged with said driving sprocket wheel whensaid slide is moved in a certain direction.

Signed at WVaterloo, Iowa, this 7th day of July, 1909.

CLINTON G. BUTLER. Witnesses G. G. KENNEDY, O. D. YOUNG.

